Babich: This has not been without luck

Sunday, April 9, 2017

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Chornomorets head coach commented on his guys’ performance

- The match turned out to be emotionally charged. We faced some problems with the line-up. The day before, we tried to rebuild our formation. We were forced to move Tatarkov deeper in the role of a full-back. As for the encounter itself, we wanted to display an organized defensive performance employing counterattacks. We were well aware of that each Shakhtar football player poses a threat, therefore we prepared the lads primarily for one-on-one play. Not everything worked out well, as there were plenty of threatening moments near out goal. However, we withstood, endured and worked to the end. We knew that the opponents would charge forward in numbers looking to open spaces and counter-attacking performance. On our part, we had a lot of work without the ball, and I want to say a big thank you to the guys, who followed the instructions to the end.

- How realistic is the chance of qualifying for the European competitions?
- When we started the domestic league with three poor matches, we had a meeting where we tried not to talk about our goals for the season. We moved along from game to game. Staying among top six teams, we faced a challenge to fight with any opponents and try to win. We do not have a concrete goal to qualify for the Europa League. We realize that we do not have enough squad potential, with the team being, so to say, still raw for competing in the European cups at the moment. This is my personal opinion.

- Do you think your words before the match, that you are going to beat Shakhtar, have materialized, or are you a more practical person?
- When telling these words, I wanted, first of all, to pump confidence into my lads. I always try to convey that it does not matter with whom we play: the opponents’ player also has two hands, two legs, and a head. Right, perhaps, their skills are higher, but due to the proper organization, it is possible to achieve success. Of course, it helped to some extent, but today this has not been without luck. If the score were 2-2, it would also be a positive and, probably, more natural result.